The deaths of 19 elderly residents at a failing care home are to be investigated following allegations of neglect.
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Wednesday 31 July 2013
Inquest to be held into deaths of 19 pensioners at failing care home
Prostate cancer drugs extend life
Scientists have hailed recent advances in prostate cancer treatments that have tripled the life expectancy for men with an incurable form of the disease. {DynamicContent:Social Media Buttons} A n...
Disarray in fuel poverty policy
In their consideration of the Energy Select Committee report on Energy Prices, Profits and Fuel Poverty (published 29 July), the media focused on the opacity of the energy companies' accounts, the lack of transparency, and the apparent weakness of the Regulator, Ofgem, … Continue reading →
Age Cymru at the National Eisteddfod
Remember to come and have a chat and a cuppa with Age Cymru at the National Eisteddfod 2013. We'll be in Denbigh to give advice on how to put more money in your pocket , Attendance Allowance and...
Age Cymru yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol
Cofiwch ddod am sgwrs a phaned gyda Age Cymru yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol 2013. Byddwn yn Ninbych i roi cyngor ar sut i roi mwy o arian yn eich poced , Lwfans Gweini, newidiadau i Oedran Pensiwn y...
Homes for older people could be built in Chester-le-Street
PLANS have been unveiled for a housing development for older people near a town centre.
Appeal for Contact the Elderly volunteers
A CHARITY which works to combat isolation among older people is looking for more volunteers in Ryedale.
Gwanwyn-inspired dancers debut at Eisteddfod
A new dance company for over 60s will be making its debut performance at the National Eisteddfod in Denbigh. Cain Performance Company is Galeri Caernarfon's dance company for older people. It will ...
Social class in later life: Power, identity and lifestyle
Attention to social class is a major issue confronting the study of ageing in the 21st century, yet it has been significantly overlooked to date.
Video from 2013 NI Pensioners Parliament
The 2013 Northern Ireland Pensioners Parliament took place on Thursday 30 and Friday 31 May in Belfast. Almost 200 pensioners from across the province attended, with issues such as health and social care, community safety, making ends meet and age discrimination being discussed.
The below video includes footage from the Parliament and some great interviews with Parliament organisers and MPPs (Members of the Pensioners Parliament) on the most significant issues of concern to older people. Finally, our MPPs provide us with an insight into the process of growing older and how they feel about being retired.
Our sincere thanks must go to Northern Visions Television (NvTV) for the production and editing of this video.
We hope you enjoy!
Northern Ireland Pensioner Parliament 2013 from Age Sector Platform on Vimeo.
The elimination half-life of benzodiazepines and fall risk: two prospective observational studies
Background: the STOPP criteria advise against the use of long-acting benzodiazepines (LBs).
Objective: to study whether LBs are associated with a higher fall risk than short-acting benzodiazepines (SBs) (elimination half-life ≤10 h).
Methods: we used base-line data and prospective fall follow-up from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, a longitudinal cohort study including 1,509 community-dwelling older persons (Study 1) and from a separate fall prevention study with 564 older persons after a fall (Study 2). Time to the first fall after inclusion and number of falls in the first year after inclusion were the primary endpoints.
Results: both in Study 1 and Study 2 the use of SBs was associated with time to the first fall, hazard ratio (HR) 1.62 (95% CI: 1.03–2.56) and HR 1.64 (95% CI: 1.19–2.26),respectively. LBs were not significantly associated with time to first fall, HR 1.40 (0.85–2.31) and HR 1.08 (0.72–1.62). In both studies, the use of SBs was also associated with number of falls, odds ratio (OR) 1.28 (95% CI: 1.01–1.61) and OR 1.37 (95% CI: 1.10–1.70). LBs were not significantly associated with number of falls, OR 1.23 (0.96–1.57) and 1.10 (0.82–1.48).
Conclusions: the use of SBs is not associated with a lower fall risk compared with LBs. The use of both SBs and LBs by old persons should be strongly discouraged.
Elderly man rescued from 'decade of captivity' in Houston garage dies
An elderly US man who was rescued earlier this month after what had been possibly years of captivity in a Texas home has died, police have confirmed.
Tuesday 30 July 2013
Carers UK pledges to continue to fight bedroom tax following court setback
Carers UK has responded to today's High Court decision to dismiss a case by 10 disabled people and their families challenging Housing Benefit cuts known as the 'bedroom tax'
Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers UK, said: "This is deeply disappointing news for carers and their families who are struggling to cope with the impact of the 'spare room' cuts to Housing Benefits.
Our research has shown that carers and disabled people are being hit hard by this policy and that the Government's discretionary housing payments are not working. The discretionary support simply isn't there for many families who are affected and it is just a temporary solution for the few who are receiving it.
For many carers, a separate room from a disabled partner is essential, not spare. On top of the disruption, expense and stress, forcing families affected by severe illness and disability to move could mean them living in unsuitable accommodation and losing local support networks which enable them to care for disabled loved ones.
Many of these families cannot move and cannot pay the shortfall in their rent – they feel angry and desperate as they face being unable to pay household bills, rent arrears and the risk of eviction. We are determined to continue to fight hard to protect carers and their families."
Full details of the judgement can be found here.
The Age Cymru doll
Mali Ellis from Denbigh has won the Age Cymru doll. She correctly guessed the doll's name – 'Haf', in a competition we ran on our stand at the Royal Welsh Show last week. 166 people entered the...
Belfast start for Rhonda's marathon journey
Rhonda Fitzpatrick is kicking off her marathon tour to raise funds for Carers in Belfast on 22nd September. Here, Rhonda talks to us about how running helped in her caring role and her marathon effort to raise money for carers across the UK. Please show your support.
"I have worked for Carers Scotland for 7 years and I know what a difficult job unpaid carers have, often with little acknowledgement. I was a carer myself in the past so I know how demanding it can be - any one of us can become a carer overnight and it can be a life changing experience.
I have always enjoyed running and have even found that it helped me in my caring role. When I could fit in a run, it gave me time just to be myself and to enjoy the company of friends who have always been very supportive. I would come home invigorated and ready to start caring again.
The person I cared for is so much better now and I am able to enjoy running more often and also to give something to carers who are not so lucky. I plan to fundraise for Carers UK by running a half marathon in every city that Carers UK has an office. The first one is Belfast on 22 September, followed by Cardiff on 6 October and Manchester on 20 October. I've never been to Belfast before so I'm quite excited about my visit.
I hope you will consider visiting my Just Giving page http://www.justgiving.com/Rhonda-Fitzpatrick1 and making a donation, no matter how small. Also, if you happen to be in Belfast on 22 September and get the chance, please shout a few words of support to me. I think I might need it!
Thank you!
'Godfather of Retail' Wins Age Discrimination Case
One of the City of London’s best known trade analysts has won his age discrimination case after his former employer, Credit Suisse, was found to have acted in a “discriminatory and unfair way”. Tony Shiret claimed the bank targeted him because of his age and favoured younger colleagues, when he was selected for redundancy in 2011 after 18 years with his employer. He successfully argued that the redundancy procedure was “pre-selected without any consultation, weighted against me and inherently unfair”. His witness statement to the East London employment tribunal continued; “It is apparent that I was targeted for redundancy whilst…
Overstretched nurses 'ration care'
Nurses say they are being forced to 'ration care' because they are too busy to look after hospital patients properly. Nearly 9 in 10 nurses questioned for a study carried out by the University of...
Housing benefit defeat - act now
Following the defeat of the high court challenge on bedroom tax rules, it's never been more important to oppose its introduction in Northern Ireland.
Reform of Housing Benefit is one of the Government's key measures in welfare reform. Under new rules already in place in GB - the so-called 'bedroom tax' - working age council or housing association tenants cannot receive Housing Benefit for unoccupied or 'spare bedrooms'. Benefit received to cover some or all of the rent is reduced according to the number of rooms defined by local authorities as 'underoccupied'. Those of pension age and in receipt of Housing Benefit are not affected. Research by Carers UK has found that carers are struggling badly with the changes.
Act now - write to your MLA
Welfare reform is not yet in place in Northern Ireland and we are urging the NI Assembly to take action to stop the introduction of the 'bedroom tax' and protect carers.
Use our toolkit to write to your MLA about your bedroom tax fears or email John McCormick at Carers Northern Ireland and tell us how the changes would affect you.
Money secured for new homes for elderly and disabled by Mayor of London
The Mayor of London has secured money to build more than a dozen specialised homes for older people and those living with disabilities.
Google and Age Action seek to award Ireland’s ‘silver surfers’
Google and Age Action have once again put the call out for nominees for their annual Silver Surfer Awards, celebrating older people who have embraced new technology.
Nurses 'ration care due to time pressures'
Nurses say they are having to "ration" care because of time pressures, a study suggests.
Thousands in their 50s fear losing homes, says Age UK
Nearly a quarter of people in their early 50s polled by Age UK are afraid of falling on hard times and being forced out of their homes.
Consultation launched on the future of pharmacy services
Health Minister Edwin Poots is seeking the views of patients, clients, services users, service providers and citizens about how pharmacy in the community can support improved health outcomes for th...
First 'friends and family' ratings to be published
The first results of a new patient rating system in England, known as the "friends and family test", are to be published today.
First of its kind ' The dementia guide' to help doctors provide support when people are diagnosed
A new booklet to help guide people with dementia and their carers through their journey with dementia has been launched today by Alzheimer’s Society.
Fenton pensioner wrongly accused of lifetime road ban
DISABLED pensioner John Green has been left without his car for two months – after he was wrongly accused of being banned from the roads for life. The 76-year-old was stopped by police in Fenton and told he had been banned from driving since the 1970s. Prosecutors charged Mr Green with disqualified driving and having no insurance and told him to appear in court this month. But the case was ...
How effective is the Trail Making Test (Parts A and B) in identifying cognitively impaired drivers?
Background: the medical community plays an important role in identifying drivers who may no longer be competent to drive due to illnesses such as dementia. Several office-based cognitive screening tools are currently used by the medical community, e.g. Mini-Mental State Examination, Trail Making Test (TMT), to assist in the identification of cognitively impaired (CI) at-risk drivers. However, the predictive validity of these tools is questionable.
Objective: to examine the predictive power of the TMT for on-road driving performance.
Methods: data from a prospective sample of CI and healthy older drivers were collected. TMT-A and -B (time and errors) served as predictor variables, with pass/fail on a scientifically based on-road assessment used as the criterion variable. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to assess overall ‘diagnostic’ accuracy of TMT-A and -B for driving competency. Cut points from previous studies/guidelines were used to assess predictive power.
Findings: a total of 134 older drivers (mean age = 75.30; SD = 7.83) participated: 87 healthy controls and 47 CI individuals. All predictor variables, with the exception of TMT-A errors, were significantly correlated with driving outcome. However, results from ROC curve analyses indicated that only TMT-A and -B total time had moderate discriminative abilities. Results also indicate that the power of the TMT is the lowest where physicians need it most (e.g. identifying CI patients whose driving skills have declined to an unsafe level).
Conclusion: TMT-A and -B outcomes are most likely to be inaccurate in those whose driving competency has declined to an unsafe level, resulting in risks to both individual and public safety.
1 in 4 in early fifties worried about losing home
Nearly a quarter of people in their early 50s are worried they'll be forced to leave their homes because they won't be able to keep up their mortgage or rent payments according to Age UK's Economic...
Monday 29 July 2013
An ageing rural Wales will force service redesign
The number of older people in Wales' rural areas is expected to rise by as much as 44% by 2021.
Employment Tribunal Fees Begin
From today, any employee wishing to bring an employment tribunal will have to pay a fee upfront, meaning they can no longer bring a claim free of charge, for the first time since they were created in the 1960s. Small claims such as unpaid wages will cost £160 to lodge and another £230 if it proceeds, whilst larger claims, such as claims for unfair dismissal will cost an initial £250, then a further £950. Fees will also apply if a claimant wants to appeal a decision. In the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the fees will be £400 to lodge an appeal…
A Framework for Delivering Integrated Health and Social Care
The Welsh Government is seeking views on the proposed framework to improve services for older people.
Ten new radio stations launch on DAB in NI
Back in April I mentioned that the selection of radio stations available on DAB in Northern Ireland was going to expand. Ofcom agreed to extend Digital One's licence to allow it to broadcast its...
Why we're living to a healthier old age
In the past the elderly have found themselves battling against poor health in the last six or seven years of their lives.
Planning needed for nursing home bed provision
Reports that the health safety body HIQA will not grant an amnesty for public nursing homes to meet safety and quality standards highlights the need to establish a Forum on Long Term Residential Ca
Unnecessary ward moves 'harm elderly patients', warn academics
The health and wellbeing of older hospital patients is being put at risk when they are shipped from ward to ward, experts have said.
Substantial Fall in Age Discrimination Claims Received by Tribunals
Recently published figures show that the number of age discrimination claims received by the Employment Tribunal Service, has fallen substantially. In the year to the end of March 2013, the Service received 2,818 age claims – a reduction of 24 per cent on the previous year. This was the lowest number of claims received in any full year since the age discrimination regulations were first introduced in October 2006 and represents a fall of nearly 60 per cent against the ‘peak’ of 6,821 age claims the Service received in 2010/11. The figures also show that during 2012/13 the Service disposed of…
Alzheimer's blood test edges closer
Researchers believe they are closer to developing a blood test that could diagnose Alzheimer's.
Parliamentary Report leaves unanswered questions
The Scottish Parliament's Infrastructure & Capital Investment Committee report into their inquiry on Community Transport has proposed a series of recommendations aimed at strengthening provision an...
Pensioner faces 35 assault charges
A 73-year-old man faces 35 charges of indecent assault of a female child between January 1977 and December 1986.
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